Protecting a Soul
by SailorLoneStar
Summary: The outlawed Senshi live with little care for life. But as a fight broke out, one princess tries to make all the difference to save two girls from their own pain and hatred. And with them, the entire society who lost sight of all that is good...


**Background:** All characters featured in this story are original Senshi I have created.  [Therefore they are mine.]  Aurora is the Ambassador from the Neo-Moon Kingdom for Serena who is currently queen.  Xumia is the leader of the underground Senshi society in a different galaxy that regards the Senshi with deep distaste and placed bounties on the heads of all Senshi.

**Disclaimer:** Sailor Moon is created by Naoko Takeuchi.  I own no rights to it.  I like use Sailor Moon as background to present my ideas and [oh no, school term!] themes.

Protecting a Soul:

            "Xumi-chan," Aurora whispered in awe, "is this where you live?"

            Xumia remained silent, thinking of the bright, warm world Aurora had described from which she had come from.  Such a place would be a sharp contract to the darkness and coldness of Xumia's home of which they currently traveled.  Xumia paused to allow the ever-curious ambassador catch up before she tried to explain.

            "Princess…  Not all of us can live safely in the warm light of the sun," Xumia began.  Suddenly, a sharp cry ruptured Aurora's attention and her gaze left Xumia's distant eyes to search for the source.  Xumia took no heed of it, and continued, unaware of Aurora's divided attention, "For all Senshi live as outlaws from the day they are born.  Everything we do is for the survival of all Senshi."  Xumia paused collecting her thoughts.  At the same time, Aurora's sorrow and sympathy turned into anger when she had heard Xumia's words and witnessed, in shock, two girls brutally beating each other to death as the others stood nearby and only watched.  None moved to stop it.  Some even chose to ignore it.

            "We must live to fulfill the prophecies of the Great Dawning… but until a new light can bathe us in purity, we shall live in the twilight of the dark moon's light."  But Xumia's tale fell on deaf ears as Aurora stomped determinedly toward the battle.

            "Princess!  You can't!  They're dangerous at this stage of life!" Xumia warned, suddenly brought back to reality, and reached out meaninglessly.

            In the brawl, the girl with dark auburn hair prevailed as she slowly emerged as the stronger of the two.  Her knee was pressing weight into the body of the fallen girl, pinning her down as she slammed the face of the victim into the rocky earth below them.  Aurora tore the auburn girl from the beaten as the assailant prepare to slam the head again.

            "Your peers are not objects on which you could release your anger and hate!" Aurora reprimanded harshly at the girl, who winced and twisted at the painful position Aurora held her in.

            "Such words mean nothing from an Outsider, much less a pacifist!" the girl, of no more than eight winters, spat back at her and wiggled out of her hold.

            "At least I do not attack my own people like a crazed animal!"

            "It is only the strongest that remain in the end, the weak are only meat for the strong!" the girl defended ferociously.

            "Wrong.  With power comes responsibility, and it is the duty of the strong to protect the weak!"

            The girl shook her head in denial, "No… No.  You know nothing of my people's pain and sufferings," She murmured as she pulled out two kodachis.  "NOTHING!" she cried as she charged at Aurora.

            "PRINCESS!" Xumia cried out in alarm.  But the fear was wasted energy as Aurora leapt gracefully into the air, out of harm's way.  The girl immediately slid around to face her.  In a moment she was in the air to kick Aurora before she could land.  The girl missed Aurora by several inches, caused primarily by bad timing.  Aurora stood regally, looking down at the girl as she landed.

            Xumia watched hopelessly as the girl charged at Aurora with a near perfect technique, her kodachis gleaming thirstily for blood.  The distance between the two dwindled quickly… twenty feet… fifteen feet…  Xumia estimated the odds of Aurora's survival to be horribly low, for the long, elegant gowns that she wore must cut her performance considerably…  Ten feet left…  Xumia prayed that the naïve and defenseless princess would obtain a painless death.  Eight feet…  _"Perhaps her death would end further repayment of my debt to Shishio…"_ the thought appeared cruelly…  Five feet…  Xumia was about to look away until something had caught her eye.

            In almost undetectable speed, Xumia watched in amazement as a sheathed katana emerged from one of Aurora's long flowing sleeves.  Her hands held it with great experience, and her body immediately took the stance necessary for any sword drawing technique.

            Xumia looked away when the two forces collided.  She already knew the outcome…  She looked again as the sound of a body falling to the ground was heard.

            Xumia and the silent crowd watched patiently for the dust to clear… _No matter what happens… one will emerge alive…the other will emerge in the Afterlife… one will win… one will lose… It is impossible for all to win…_

            The thinning dust left a lone figure standing over a crumpled body.  The glimmer of falling tears in the twilight told Xumia it was Aurora who had survived… _That is how the world works, Princess…_  Xumia thought with certainty was she began to walk toward Aurora, on whom the moon shone and revealed a distressed face.

            "Aurora…"

            Aurora opened her mouth to say something, but something pulled on the skirts of her white gown.  Xumia gasped in horror as the crumpled corpse of the young girl try to stand.  Aurora quickly dropped her katana and gave the girl a shoulder to lean.

            Aurora watched her with motherly love and concern.  But the girl's expression was filled with hate and revenge, and the gem at the center of her forehead glowed ruby red for a split moment before great flames engulfed the two.

            Xumia flinched from the heat of the flames that reached twice her height.

            "Selkie!  Douse those flames before we lose them both!!" Xumia ordered over the thunderous roar of the flames.

            A nearby girl nodded and twirled a finger in the air and pitch at the flames as waves of water surged around her flooded the air toward the flames.

            The air hissed as steam from the water's struggle, swamped the area.  But the magical power that fed the flames fought back.  A minute passed… Selkie's power wasn't enough.  _I warned you Aurora! _Xumia thought angrily.  Two minutes… other water Senshi joined the struggle.  A third passed but the flames remained the same.

"She must have spent all of her strength to make the fire so resistant to water!"

"Feed more power into it!"

Xumia began to consider starving the fires of oxygen when four minutes passed.  But she had very little hope for the two.  Xumia turned her back on the flames, ready to leave when five long minutes passed, but a voice echoed in her memories, _"Stop looking so dejected Xumia.  You can never loose all hope.  Where there is life, there is a way.  You and your people will see the light without fear someday.  I promise you…  I swear upon my eternal soul that you will…"_

"Xumia-sama!" someone called out excitedly.  "The flames are dying down!  Quick!  There is still hope for them!"

Xumia returned to watch the rescue.  The relieved and content faces of the Senshi who fought the fires grew contagious, and all who remembered their smiles brightened.

_"Perhaps there is still hope left in the world,"_ Xumia thought as she stared at the heart of the flames where her pupil was… where her best friend was…  The flames shrank, and Xumia could soon see the silhouette of the two.  As the fires did their final dance, Xumia frowned slightly, perplexed by the illusion of a diamond that encased the two.  She had no chance to discover it when the flames died away.

            In the ashes, they discovered Aurora holding the unconscious body of the girl closely to protect the child as best as she could with her own body.  Because of the tsunami of water that was used to end the fire, Aurora was drenched and her clothes clung to her body.  But she held no visible signs of being burned alive.  Xumia walked to Aurora as Aurora handed the child to a healer who had rushed to her side.

            "I'm told the other child will survive, and will won't be able to continue life as before…  Severe concussions to the head…" Aurora immediately said when Xumia neared.  Aurora's storm blue eyes met and held Xumia's.  "You need to teach your people compassion for life.  With an entire galaxy after you, you do not need your own people fighting each other as well!  Just because-"

            "She'll be fine," the healer said as an Asian Senshi lifted the child.  Xumia and Aurora watched quietly as the Senshi shifted her weight to carry the child.

            The Senshi glared coldly at Aurora, the girl secured in her arms.  "Do not expect favors from this Ambassador.  We are Senshi, the hunted race of Society...  We hide in the shadows of the night...  fearful of the light that promises our death.  We bow only to the darkest of gods, for it is they who protect us.  We do not expect you, an Outsider, to treat us kindly, so do not expect us to treat _you_ kindly...  We owe you nothing for that act of concern."

            Aurora stared stupidly at the heartless Senshi who had disappeared into the building.  "Owe you nothing?"  Aurora repeated, looking at Xumia in confusion.  Her sky blue eyes clear and innocent again.  "I expect no returned favors for anything I do.  I just wanted the girls to live beautiful childhoods.  Besides, why would anyone act for the good of another just for the sake of obtaining something in return?"

            Xumia looked away, unable to answer.  For how could a Senshi answer a question like that?  In underground societies, morality were only a hindrance to survival…

**Author's Note:**

            This fic, sad to say, is actually "inspired" (if that's the right word) by a fight I recently saw at school.  *shock*  I have _never_ seen so much Hate before.  *hides face in hands*  I wrote this as a reminder to all, and to myself especially, that we should stop the fighting, even if it does not concern us, and to stress the need for change so no one would have to suffer from pain and fear.

Thank you for reading, and could you please leave a simple note before you go on your way?  It would help my esteem and my abilities as a writer to hear feedback of any kind.  If there's any confusion, things that could use improvement or better word choice, sporadic moments, and anything of the sort, please tell me!  I'd really like to know what you think.  [I, for one, think that I could have loaded the story with too many ideas/concepts and the such… -_-']  Thank you again, and please review!


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